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I've been taking a walk on the net recently (for lack of a better analogy), and it seems like there is a little bit of an underground community among us who have watched this series. People have blogged it, people have expressed it on multiple forums - this one included. But there has not yet been a congregation for how big this movement really is. And I'm surprised that we didn't start a thread like this during the show's original run to see just how many there were in this community.

The question I'm throwing at you is: Whose Kanon ending would you have preferred? Ayu's? Or Nayuki's?

Now, at some point, you may have looked at the final few episodes and thought, "Aha! Well if it was left to me, I would've done this differently!" As a scriptwriter, I strive to make stories with impact, to tell stories as dramatic and entertaining as possible, even if it deviates from the general order of things. To be honest, I could have scripted a Nayuki ending without having to modify three-quarters of the content. And I'm sure KyoAni, the producers, could have done so too. They had the manpower, the resources, the liberty to do something unconventional and still walk away as a success. And yet, for some reason, they held back.

It is not to say that I disliked the final episode. Albeit a bit cheezy and a little difficult to follow, the ending fits. I like it. But I would have preferred Nayuki's.

And that is the essence of this thread: preference. My reasons is that a Nayuki ending would have provided more emotional impact and therefore made more sense. You may simply just like her more. Regardless, this is an opportunity to collect and see just how many viewers - casual and fans alike - were either pleased or content with Ayu's ending or left desiring an ever-after story with Nayuki. You may be satisfied with KyoAni's ending for its integrity, but would you have liked/wanted a different outcome?

For all intents and purposes, I do not wish to include Shiori, Makoto, Mai, or Sayuri in this poll.

As a scriptwriter, I strive to make stories with impact, to tell stories as dramatic and entertaining as possible, even if it deviates from the general order of things. To be honest, I could have scripted a Nayuki ending without having to modify three-quarters of the content. And I'm sure KyoAni, the producers, could have done so too. They had the manpower, the resources, the liberty to do something unconventional and still walk away as a success. And yet, for some reason, they held back.

I'm a bit surprised by this statement, to be honest. What is the central theme of Kanon? What is the primary conflict that needs to be resolved? Which of the heroines is most central to that primary conflict? And then, as a second issue, what was the apparent primary objective of the scriptwriters in producing this adaptation of the game?

Would it have been possible to re-script the adaptation to deliver a Nayuki ending? Of course. The original game clearly can be played from that angle, so the material is already there. But, given the central theme and primary conflict, would taking things from that angle have been as effective at delivering a resolution to that conflict and an answer to the presented theme? In order to deliver a convincing Nayuki ending, one of the most important things you would have to do is change the development of the central theme/conflict so that it hinges more on Nayuki than on Ayu, or that resolution of Ayu's story arc could somehow flow naturally into Nayuki's, and, in the end, that wouldn't simply be "deviating from the general order of things", it might be re-imagining the way Key wrote the work, and to what end?

So, I don't think it's a matter of them having "held back" anything. Going for the "canon" ending is the cleanest way to resolve the central conflict of the story, and to deliver their promise to the audience: to provide a more faithful adaptation of the game's storyline. Their primary objective was not really to "tell stories as dramatic and entertaining as possible", it was to "to tell the dramatic and entertaining story that Key wrote". I think it's basically for that reason that we got the ending we did. If you rewind the clock even further, and postulate whether Key could have written things differently, it may be a more likely question.

Given the way the anime was presented and positioned, I don't think there was any possibility for another ending, and I guess I prefer a story ending that nicely ties everything back to the central theme. If they had started the story differently, and developed it differently along the way, then maybe I could have accepted a Nayuki ending. Certainly, Nayuki was my favourite character between the two. But I suspect that many of the people calling for a Nayuki ending haven't really carefully thought through what impact that would have on the rest of the work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zaris

My reasons is that a Nayuki ending would have provided more emotional impact and therefore made more sense.

This logic seems to be me to be a bit lacking in cohesiveness. Having more impact doesn't cause something to make sense. The purpose of the ending is provide resolution to the central conflict. So you'd have to propose a scenario where Yuuichi could end up with Nayuki and still satisfactorily resolve all issues presented in the story regarding Ayu and the past. I can really only think of one way to do this that might work, but again, I think you'd be rewriting the way Key envisioned the story, and that was never really in the cards. As you know, there already was an existing adaptation that did a bit more of this (and, in fact, tried to make a Nayuki ending more palatable), but it is largely discarded by game fans.

I really wanted a makoto endings, especially after 06 anime version, she was even more cute than before plus auu~~ and this would also fit into the miracle theme that the main story took. Though if only given a choice i would go uguu.

in truth i would (and do) prefer the ayu ending
as much as i love nayuki (yuki no shojo is my ringtone) ayu is the one girl that embodies elements from all four of the other characters

Spoiler for aspects:

the family problems that nayuki faces later on, as well as the "childhood friend" aspect
the ability to produce miracles that mai has (this plays a huge part later on)
the medical complications that shiori has
and makoto's "non-human" status

ayu's character contains aspects of all 4 girls
and in my mind this makes her ending the best one

Of all the characters, I really do feel that Nayuki just got completely shafted. I like Ayu and all but their relationship had no real build up in my opinion, it felt like it came out of no where. Nayuki was a real nice character and I really sympathized with her considering her feelings for Yuiichi.

It is true that Nayuki may have been a reasonable choice as well - she is his childhood friend, a great person, was there for him in the end when he needed her - but even if the anime had been slightly tilted in Nayuki's favor I still would have chosen Ayu.

She brought me joy in every single scene, I was broken when she left Yuuichi (both times) and I truly, truly love her character too much to give a damn about the fact that the way everything worked out in the end is a bit of a stretch or perhaps even cheesy. That was the end I was hoping for and it made me very happy.